Instead of Karpov and Kasparov battling it out in the Hall of Columns, the home of the Soviet Union's Communist Party Congresses, in 2012 it is India's Viswanathan Anand and Israel's Boris Gelfand who are fighting for world supremacy at the home of Russian art, the Tretyakov Gallery.

Instead of the 1985 prize fund of 72,000 roubles, Anand and Gelfand are playing for $US2.55m.

When Kasparov and Karpov competed for the crown in 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev had just become leader of the USSR and his reforms set the stage for the dissolution of the Soviet Union 6 years later.

By 2012, Mikhail Gorbachev has become an elder statesman, signing autographs at the opening ceremony while present as patron of FIDE's Chess In Schools project.

Anatoly Karpov was another guest at the opening ceremony, held in the magnificent Vrubel Hall at the Tretyakov Gallery. Karpov gave plenty of interviews talking about the good old days, but the man with whom he is forever twinned and who took his title in 1985, Garry Kasparov, was not. (Hopes were expressed that Kasparov would attend later in the match and even enjoy a cameo with the commentators.)

At the opening press conference Gelfand expressed his hope that the players could produce games worthy of the works of art at the Tretyakov. Unfortunately those hopes have not yet been realised.

In contrast to the ultra-voiolence seen so far at the US Championships, the world title match running concurrently has been a quiet affair.

After two games of the 12 game contest, the score is tied at 1-1, after two draws. The underdog Gelfand has already shown that he has come to the title match very well prepared and has given Anand no chances.

Gelfand will be pleased with the current score but knows that he cannot relax. In 2008, Anand's title match against Vladimir Kramnik also started cautiously with two draws but the Indian then broke the shackles with three wins from the next four games to effectively end the contest.

Anand is not relying on history, saying “Every match has its own story or trend and we will have to see how this one develops.”

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3

3...d5!?

The Grunfeld Defence - a system which Gelfand had never used in a serious game. "You expect to be surprised," admitted Anand. "I had taken a look at [the Grunfeld opening] but it was difficult to expect since I can't remember a single game with the Grunfeld by Boris."

Typical Gelfand. 12...0-0 is safer but after long thought he could find nothing wrong with the text move.

13.Rb2 1.44 13...Qa5 1.06 14.d6!? 1.18

14.Bg5 is also promising but the text move sets a sophisticated trap.

14...Ra7! 1.03 15.Bg5 1.10

15...exd6! 0.58

The pundits in the press room, were wondering why Black did not play 15...f6? until they found the stunning refutation 16.Rb8! 0–0 17.Qb3+! Kh8 (17...c4 is no better due to 18.Qxc4+ Kh8 19.Be3 Rd7 20.dxe7 Rxe7 21.Bc5) 18.Ne5!!